U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/747,807, filed Nov. 14, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,778 and assigned to the assignee of this invention, describes an energy-absorbing motor vehicle steering column including a structural housing, a releasable mount or attachment between a body of the motor vehicle and a forward end of the structural housing, and a releasable mount or attachment between an aft end of the structural housing and the vehicle body which restrains the aft end vertically and in the direction of a longitudinal centerline of the steering column. The aft attachment includes a lateral rod on the body of the motor vehicle, a retainer plate on the structural housing which hooks over the lateral rod, a pair of wedge blocks on the structural housing slidable in the direction of the longitudinal centerline of the latter, a ramp on each of the wedge blocks facing the lateral rod, and a pair of springs biasing the wedge blocks toward the lateral rod. The springs wedge the ramps on the wedge blocks under the lateral rod to eliminate vertical lash and lash in the direction of the longitudinal centerline of the structural housing.